Red State Maryland

90 homicides in 2015, 65 homicides at this time in 2014, increase of 38.5%.

Is it normal that the State's Attorney filed charges agains the officers in the Freddie Gray case before the ME ruled the death a homicide?

True story.

Bills signed by Gov Hogan include making use of recording devices legal; requiring police to keep demographic records info on who they stop; requiring police to keep records of who they kill/hospitalize; expanding the reach of the (utterly ineffectual) Civilian Review Board..

Stadium Lounge in Waverly shut down 6 months for illegal gambling. License owner's lawyer is named Frank Boozer.

Mikvah-vouyeur rabbi to be sentenced today*

Recent homicide victims IDd: -N East Ave: Paul Smith, 28 -Crismer: Harry Davis, 36 -Carey: Odell Stewart, 29 -Fairlawn: Matthew Hughes, 32

— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) May 14, 2015

Dixon to WJZ: On running: "It's a possibility." On city progress: "In some ways we've gone back a little" On SRB: "Not going to criticize"

— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) May 15, 2015

Post -Riot Blame Game/That Woman Is On Drugs

Hogan's office and aide Keiffer Mitchell said they tried to reach SRB on April 27 from 3:30 to 6 p.m. to get her permission to activate National Guard troops as the riots began at Mondawmin, but she didn't pick up the phone. From the WaPo:

At 2:30 p.m., Drew Vetter, director of legislative affairs for the Baltimore police, e-mailed members of the City Council and state legislators representing the city about a “credible gang threat against officers” and “possible violent activity” at Mondawmin Mall and downtown. ... After 3 p.m., Gregory E. Thornton, Baltimore’s schools chief, headed for the mall, only to be turned back by police who were blocking the streets. Thornton went to City Hall and told the mayor what he had see. ... 

By [3 p.m. Monday April 27], Mitchell had arrived at City Hall, having been ordered by Hogan to “be where the mayor is.” A former Baltimore City Council member who lives a mile from Mondawmin, Mitchell has known Rawlings-Blake since middle school. His uncle, as a state senator, had shown then-Gov. Spiro T. Agnew around Baltimore after the riots that followed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. That was the last time the National Guard had been called in.  ...  

About 6:45 p.m., the mayor traveled from police headquarters to the Emergency Operations Center, where her cabinet was waiting, as were Mitchell and several City Council members. ... Even though the troops had been activated, the mayor waited an additional 75 minutes to inform the public.“She finally made that call, and we immediately took action,” he said. The mayor, when told of Hogan’s remarks, “was pissed off, because she viewed it as the governor politicizing this,” said Harris, her spokesman, adding that the two leaders had talked more than once that afternoon. “She thought it was a rookie move. And you can quote me on that.”

But the billion-dollar questions:

• who ordered police to assemble in full riot gear and lie in wait for kids to get out of school between 3-3:30 and close the subway stop and keep kids from getting on the bus? 
• was that a legal thing to do? don't kids have a right to assemble and not be detained without cause? 
• Wouldn't you freak the ef out and burn stuff if your kid was trapped behind lines of officers in riot gear? 

Witnesses say it took 4-30 minutes for kids to start throwing bricks and bottles at police.

And who/what were police supposed to be protecting on April 27? Not, apparently, Mondawmin mall, where looters were so brazen they loaded clothes and shoes into their trunks by the armful all afternoon and into dark. Or any of the businesses around Pennsylvania and North Avenue.

And who ordered/strongly suggested the shutdown of downtown businesses in the middle of the day, Batts? Did he consult with SRB at all? And why wasn't this suggestion issued directly from the Mayor to all downtown employees instead of what appears to have been communique directly to the biggest businesses? We didn't from the Mayor or Batts himself until late Monday night.

That Woman. Drugs.

Here's my theory of what started the riots: That Woman Is On Drugs. That Woman = Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, of course, and by Drugs I mean something or some combo that's sedating and also an appetite suppressant.  Vyvanse and Ambien? Strattera and espresso? Pot n Percocet? She seems spaced out to the gills every time she's on TV.

And with SRB MIA/apathetic or knowledgeably on board with what Batts felt was a pressing threat, wanting to prove to Hogan and whomever that Baltimore could handle its own business, faced with plunging morale within the department as the threat of body cameras and accountability seeming a real possibility for the first time, Batts dealt with the stress the only way he knew how, like a hammer looking for a nail. 

That's my theory.

Shit Hits Fan

First of all, the fire department would like to assure you that the massive fire from the senior center was not related to the rioting last night.

However, the burning and looting at the CVS and the rioters who cut the the fire department's hose certainly was.

And just because that guy is walking away from a police van does not mean he was the one who set it on fire.  Though those people at Mondawmin loading racks of clothes into their trunks are definitely guilty.

Buildings are burning, schools are closed, and streets are lined with chaos: http://t.co/vQbV0zpoMK #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/hxtI1FHlJk
— KTAB News (@KTABTV) April 28, 2015

Baltimore looked like a war zone last night... http://t.co/E8O3OdB9Rg #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/zlJOsOWrVS
— The Independent (@Independent) April 28, 2015

One of many episodes. Phalanx comes to scene of fire. Battered bearcat vehicle. Burned out cars #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/LKoS13he7D
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) April 28, 2015

15 buildings and nearly 144 vehicles set on fire last night. This was one. @BBCNewsUS #BaltimoreRiots #Baltimore pic.twitter.com/iDIlRuwpu6
— Rajini Vaidyanathan (@rajiniv) April 28, 2015

But heroes emerged, like the man who danced on top of a box truck to Michael Jackson, the (different?) v talented Michael Jackson impersonator who danced to "Beat It" and the mom who saw her son rioting on TV and ran out and beat him. Yes, even CNN concedes, "A few people tried to stop the unrest," including Vietnam vet Robert Valentine, who told young people to go away and told CNN,

"I've seen more than all this. This here is not relevant need to have their butts at home, viewing this with their families, studying and doing something with their life. They do not respect this young man's death. Their mom and daddy done lost a child. I am very pissed. .. I love my country, I love my charm city."

The riots ignited at the conclusion of Freddie Gray's funeral, a high and solemn-yet-firey event attended by Gray's family, including his mum, twin sister Fredricka, sister Carolina, stepfather; White House officials, Eric Garner's family; an all-star show of orators:

• Jesse Jackson - "all of our sons are at risk .. police wagon became a tomb ... he is more than a citizen, a martyr. ...go out and march, and march and call his name"
• Scruffy, tie-less Billy Murphy - "this is like a bad marriage, but we're not interested in divorce"
• Jamal Bryant - "he was a threat because he was man enough to look somebody in the eye .. they're used to black men with their head bowed down low, their spirit broken. .. but he stopped running"
• Elijah Cummings [tears]

And then at around 11:30 a.m. police claimed a "credible threat" of talks of gangs targeting police and "purge" on social media. As we were later to discover,  apparently a guy said on Facebook:

"We gonna unify, you got Bloods, Crips, Muslims, BGF, you got everybody out here, you ain't never see it like this before. Everybody together just to go against these pigs" 

So downtown schools and businesses then began to close starting at around 2 p.m., including UMAB, T. Rowe Price and Legg Mason. But at the end of the funeral, mourners rolled out, protestors converged, students from schools including Frederick Douglass near Mondawmin spilled into the streets. "outsiders" including press, national groups like the Crips, Bloods and Nation of Islam took to the streets, and on the East side Dunbar students near Hopkins Hospital hit the bricks.

And the mayor made good on her quip from last week about allowing civilians on the streets "space to destroy." Indeed, police held back, not just at Mondawmin and with Dunbar students but as North Avenue and the CVS were smashed and burned, until the men started cutting the fire hose. And at some point the police claimed someone shot at them, and boys and men definitely threw rocks and bricks. And 144 burnt cars.

Tuesday city schools were closed, and Tuesday morning the National Guard rolled in. City private schools were open, but sports were cancelled, and one school decided at 1:10 to close at 1:30 out of fears of .... no one is sure what, exactly.

But no fatalities that we know of yet.

when you realize this was 23 yrs ago... Right now Baltimore is just like L.A. in 1992... #BaltimoreRiots😔🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/yDK1U41Epi
— Travis Dope Azz (@boyznthehood_) April 28, 2015

At the moment Baltimore is on the front page of the BBC News, and thousands of troopers have been deployed. Hogan is moving his office to take over from Stephanie, who is clearly overwhelmed (I miss Sheila Dixon, she got stuff done).

A warm, clear and sunny day, the cloying sweet smell of burnt lead-painted wood dominates the air, with pockets of burnt rubber, sulphur and plastics.

#FreddieGray

When I first saw the video of slack-legged Freddie Gray put in the back of a police van on a local news station site I didn't even pause to Facebook. Injuries in custody, it's right there in my most recent post, how common it is:
"An ACLU report said that 109 people in Maryland died after police encounters between 2010 and 2014."  $5.7 million in payouts in just four years. 
These incidents happen every few days in the city. 
A few recapped by the Atlantic:

Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson. Those cases detail a frightful human toll. Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones — jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles — head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.

A week later police still don't have an explanation as to why he was stopped in the first place. And that's not unusual. But a DOJ probe and CNN descending? Unusual.

Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and now Freddie Gray, and long-neglected Baltimore, getting Malaysian-plane levels of attention.

Gray, too, is an innocent victim, young, healthy.  The police's only given reason for stopping him is that he had a knife in his pocket. Ans while it's true certain kinds of knives, concealed switchblades and Bowie knives, are illegal to carry in MD, as is wielding them with an attempt to harm. But how would police know if he was carrying an illegal-type knife unless they had x-ray vision? And the knife being in his pocket itself is proof of no threat.

And he was innocent in that he'd never been found guilty of anything. He had some petty narcotics charges on the Judiciary Case Search, but if anything they shows a history of harassment by the police and courts. Narcotics charges against him appear to have been nol pros'd, and in one case the state delayed four times and left as 'STET' charges. Have you heard of those? Baltimore city loves them, it's where the state won't try a case but won't drop the charges, either,* keeping them on someone's record where they can't be expunged for three years, making legitimate employment nearly impossible for the accused.

And, of course, video. Now we have the man who filmed it, Kevin Moore, who said he was woken up by the sound of a Taser and screaming,* and saw Gray "folded up like a crab or a piece of origami."

Fern Shen, Baltimore Brew

On the national level, Baltimore has that "Wire" angle, and a twist on the race narrative, too. Majority-black city, mayor, city council. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's been mayor long enough to have been able to improve a lot, should she have been willing: approve body cameras, give the citizen review board power to deliver penalties, use CitiStat to increase transparency and confidence. But the beatings, payouts and secrecy under SRB have gotten worse. Justice is no match for the entrenched self-dealings, favor system and torpor of our local government.

And now Larry Hogan's sending in the state troopers at the request of the mayor.  It's all a made-for-CNN drama, all tragic and generally depressing.

But maybe the pressure of national and international coverage and the DOJ's involvement could finally effect some real hope and change around here. Perhaps a pleasant side effect of having a Republican governor might be no pussyfooting around when it comes to setting Baltimore city's affairs to order. Maybe we'll even get some of that court-ordered external monitoring that's been working so well in Oakland-- no citizen has been shot to death by police there in 18 months. Maybe it might could happen!


*When people ask why I dislike O'Malley, this is why. He brought us stop and frisk which clogged up the courts and took time away from serious cases, nol prossing, STET-ing, ruining people's records. And crime went up.

Sold for Sex/Blind Crack Kingpin

Matthew Brown, 25.
'I got a tattoo of your initials, Daddy!
Please pay attention to me now!"

Out of country for two weeks, thanks for not burgling my house!
What did I miss?

Warren A B

The son of defense attorney Warren Brown's son Matthew Brown and one other guy were arrested for human trafficking for pimping out three girls aged 14, 16 and 17,  picking them up on North Avenue and taking them to a motel in Woodlawn. And holy shit does MB have the worst tattoo of all time. Is it an homage to dad's inititals? Brown calls the arrest "devastating."...  So, how many sons does Warren Brown have? At least one other, whose mom, Brown's ex-wife Donna, was murdered in Oct 2008.  In 2007 a man was shot in a car that crashed into Warren Brown's pool.

Two men allegedly of the "Up Da Hill" gang were indicted for six murders.*

Neworb Brown

Shit you would not believe if it was on a TV show: a Middle River/NY 38-year-old HarfCo blind crack kingpin* named Neworb Brown arrested with his presumably his not-blind and cash-counting twin brother Srewob and 17 others. He conducted business by getting others to drive him around, but was electronically surveilled anyway. So are the twins' names anagrams? Theories?

Appendix A: the Khaki-pants bandit

They caught the khaki-pants bandit, wanted for *50* robberies in the city.

"An ACLU report said that 109 people in Maryland died after police encounters between 2010 and 2014."

Egqueeze me? Bill Cosby is appearing at the Modell theater in Baltimore Friday, plenty of good seats still available for a mere $81.60 per. How many accusers is he up to now? HOLY FUCK 37!!

RIP, Frank Melvin Papa Bear Conaway Senior

Frank Melvin "Papa Bear" Conaway senior, pater familias of a troupe of local circus bears, was found dead in bed in his Ashburton abode by his cub Frank. He was 81.

Conaway was elected to the MD House of Delegates in 1971 and was elected as the city's Clerk of the Court in 1998. 

He's survived by wife Mary, former Registrar of Wills, current Registrar of Wills Belinda Conaway, dereistic city council member Frank M. Conaway Junior (D-40th), some woman named Monica, and at least four grandchildren: Ray, Frank Melvin the 3rd, Lacynda and Kelly, the latter three of whom were arrested for pot dealing in 2013.

FMC Sr. was well-known for his family-themed campaigning at intersections and in median strips, and known around city office buildings for his spiffy style, which included well-cut broad-shouldered suits with pocket squares, jaunty bow ties and his trademark crumb-duster moustache. His rambling tangents at the city Criminal Justice Coordinating Council were often peppered with colorful turns of phrase ("Baltimore is turning into a Dodge City, a Deadwood, or more aptly, a Tombstone from the days of the Wild West, where gunfights erupted spontaneously and lawlessness reigned supreme.") and he also liked to repeat that adage about that owl.

He was also the reluctant defendant in that no-go 2006-2007 gay-marriage lawsuit Conaway v. Deane v. Polyak, the reluctant target of the karate kicks of blogger Adam Meister, and is the only person in history to lose elections to both Willie Don and Stephanie R-B. 

He was by all accounts a derelict office manager; under his tenure the Clerk's office regularly lost or improperly accounted for millions of taxpayer dollars and a 2010 legislative audit that found his office lost a prodigious $43.4 million in 33 months. 

But in a time before the Internet he glad-handed and bear-suited his way to an indelible political name brand, one that's kept voters checking off his family name on ballots more than four decades, and was one of those surprising, quirky characters that made living in this great city so worthwhile. 

We should all be such wise old bears.

Gears Ground

George Vonn King Jr.

Wat. Nineteen-year-old George Vonn King Jr. was Tased five times, sedated. City prosecutors determine he died of "natural causes."* If only there was some way to record interactions between police and citizens...

So, apparently in spite of whatever lip service they've offered up in the past SRB and Batts are fighting police cameras tooth and nail, arguing that the city council doesn't have the authority to force them on the police department. Admin's lawyer: "you can argue all you want." Meanwhile I got a long message from a purported cop about this--

"listen i know we have bad cops out there. I want them gone just as much as the next. i was born and raised in this city and a cop myself. cameras on cops will not fix the problem in this city. cameras are going to make the good cops like myself a robot for many reasons. just because a camera is on it will not change a cop who has a bad adjective. He will just find other ways to get the job done." 

Oh, okay, so retail stores, banks, etc. shouldn't be able to train cameras on the till even if $5.7 million goes missing, because the "bad" employees will just figure out another way to steal? If cameras are such an outrage, where was the mayor's office as we all became subject to license-plate scanning technology, when our tax money was frittered away on hundreds of (apparently worthless) surveillance cameras all over the city, and that time we all became test subjects for military drones? Also total bullshit: the claim that it'll cost $7 million to equip the city's 2000-something officers with cameras-- that's about 10 times more than the companies that make the cameras claim they cost, 10 times more than other jurisdictions claim to pay. And even if cameras do cost $7 million, so what? That's sofa-cushion change compared to the largesse this administration has ladled out to developers (eg. $393 million for Harbor Point*), a veritable Starbucks tip compared to the ridiculous overtime costs and other hinky business police stick us with.

In East Baltimore, a "torture house." The Sun has helpfully included a selection of Tweets if you want to share this information with your "social networks."

Ps. If you missed the 10+-something hours of Frank M. Conaway Jr. rambling on like a lunatic before he took them down,* a helpful citizen set up a mirror site.

                       Mid October Baltimore Crime Blog Update

Around the Horn:

Police have identified a suspect in the Fells Point murder of popular waitress Claudia Parodi, unfortunately, the suspect is no where to be found and is presumed to have absconded into Mexico.

Two men are given Life plus some change for the quasi-gang related yet simultaneous cold blooded and random murder of 12-year-old Sean Johnson.  

Cradle robbing accused murderer Michael McCarthy, age 52 has been charged with homicide in regards to the death of his 28-year-old "Girlfried" Tieisha Wilson.

The Federal Courts have had there hands full of Baltimore criminals, announcing a sentence of 11 years for 43-year-old Antonio Rennard Gilliam after he robbed some Towson businesses, a 10 year bid for 27-year-old coke dealer Kevin Gerard Wyche, and a hefty 30 year visit to the pen for Dundalk armed robber John Joseph Wilson, age 54.

The murder of MTA driver Craig Ray made headlines earlier this year, but it would seem that yet again, the public pressure had caused the BPD to charge a man without sufficient evidence to convict. Thus, former murder suspect Kevin Carroll has had all of his charges dropped in regards to the "loud noise" shooting death of Craig Ray. 

A fella got popped in the knee Saturday morning. 

A big time cross cross country drug conspiracy bust occurred this week, with area crime lord Kedrick Arnold Jenifer and eight of his associates indicted federally on a bevy of drug related crimes. Mr. Jenifer has becoming notorious as of late due to his ownership of a fells point Rita's Italian Ice Shop which was used to launder money. And to a lesser degree, he's received attention thanks to his criminal group participating in a 2012 murder.

Since this is a very change of pace post, I thought I would offer up something not seen before in the Baltimore crime blog; that is, a brief summary of all major or noteworthy arrests during a certain period. All cases can be searched in the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, and if readers are interested in the continuation, please make your voices heard. 

Summary of Notable Arrests from 10/20/14 to 10/25/14 in Baltimore City and County

Indictments from 10/13/14 to 10/18/14 City

Name:                              Year of Birth                               Charge        

Arica Leonard                       1999                                Att. 1st Degree Murder

Kaiya Bryant                         1997                               Armed Robbery

Arquis Latimer                       1997                             Armed Robbery

Richard Turner                       1997                            Armed Robbery

Dominique Tillman                  1996                            2nd Degree Murder

Quantay Young                      1995                            Carjacking

Michael Matthews                 1992                            Armed Robbery

Maurice Jones                       1992                            Armed Robbery

Devon Brockington               1991                            Att. 1st Degree Murder

Sheniqua Allen                      1991                             Carjacking

Milton Brown-Bey               1990                             Armed Carjacking

Derek Harvey                      1989                            Armed Robbery

Michael Gambrell                 1989                          Armed Carjacking

Jermain Jackson                   1985                            Murder 1st Degree

Marcelle Graham                 1985                           Armed Robbery

Edwin Harris                       1984                           Att. 1st Degree Murder

Willie Jones                         1984                           Att. 1st Degree Murder

Marvin Gaye*                     1981                          Assault 2nd Degree

Sean Means                        1980                          Armed Robbery

Michael Paschall**             1979                           Assault 2nd Degree

Johnnie Taylor                     1978                          Att. 1st Degree Murder

Daniel Hill                           1974                         Armed Robbery

Michael Hamilton                1968                       Murder 1st Degree

Steven Bartell                     1967                         Armed Robbery

Kenneth Harrod                 1966                       Armed Robbery

Michael McCarthy             1962                       Murder 1st Degree

Alva Parsons                      1934                      Sexual Abuse of a Minor

Indictments from 10/13/14 to 10/18/14 County

Ryan Knight                           1991                        Att. 1st Degree Murder

Darryl Brooks                        1983                        2nd Degree Rape

Lucas Tormollan***               1994                       Att. 1st Degree Murder

Notes:

* = Noteworthy due to sharing name with famous musician

** = Area renowned Middleweight boxer and related to Paschall family members indicted by MD DOJ

*** = Indicted in time frame after initial lower charge

All Right, Fine

Here's a digest of what's been up lately for you non-Facebook-having people.

City officer Vincent Cosom was caught on tape cold clocking victim Kollin Truss in the face for no apparent reason at a North Avenue bus stop; the clip went national, Cosom got suspended with pay two months after the incident.*

Police are ISO this guy for robbing a convenience store on Pulaski Highway and beating a customer with a bottle. Also robbed: a business in Canton and a bunch of other poor decent souls in the Southeast.

Meanwhile, at Hopkins Homewood: "Two female undergraduate students were approached by an unknown male about 30 years of age who asked one of them what kind of shirt she was wearing then grabbed the back of the shirt to see what size it was. The male left the cafe and returned about 15 minutes later and offered to take pictures of them at his apartment. When his offer was declined, he said "Don't be scared. I won't chop you up in pieces." ... because that is totally what someone who won't chop you into pieces would say.

The kid curfew went into effect last month and officers scooped up 120 wayward yutes.*

That lawsuit against Carol Ott was dismissed.

Unshockingly, officer Jeffrey Bolger, one of two officers accused of slitting a shar-pei's throat wants the case dismissed.* Less unshockingly his lawyers have requested this by means of an open letter to Gregg Bernstein.

Police finally caught Davon Wallace, suspected of killing 3-year-old Knijah Bibb in PGC while trying to shoot his girlfriend's brother who borrowed his clothes without permission.

Local nutcase/Republican candidate for sheriff David Anthony Wiggins went on a rant about "Jew women" and "white liberal bullshit."

Ray Rice. Fun fact: even though the Ravens have had 17 players arrested since 2000 they're not even in the top 10 of the teams with the most arrests. And, shockingly, the NFL's arrest rate is actually lower than the national average.

Chris Davis got suspended for 25 games for using Adderall and lifted a flipped truck.

Justin Fenton and Ian Duncan are upset that Young Moose's raps are being used against him* in his gelcap-slinging trial. If the simile you use for "posted" is "like some posters" maybe stick to your day job.

Gerald Wiseburg

This guy was allegedly running a Lutherville pill mill and he looks pretty darn happy about it.

A lady was robbed at gunpoint by the Roland Park water tower.

The City Paper's "Best Of" issue is out, confusing as usual with its convoluted praise, double negatives and latent sarcasm. Por ejemplo, the Hennessey Heist won "best burglary," Dan McIntosh of the Nicka Conspiracy scored "best sentence" and Judge Motz's inaction on our leaky sewers got "best block."

A terrifying piece on NPR detailed the cellphone spyware that domestic abusers can use to stalk their victims. Pull quote: "The strategy of offenders is to have complete and utter domination and control of their victims."

And O'Malley cosplay'd on a horse.

I don't really post here much any more

.. but you are welcome to join our Facebook group.

Wiziging It Up

Car shot up, no one hit, 2500 W Franklin St #scanner
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 15, 2014

Earlier, carjacking, Park Heights/Rogers RT @lukebroadwater Armed robbery "just occurred" at Wilkens and Pulaski #scanner
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 15, 2014

Scanner: Report of UPS customer service center - 6500 Quad Ave - held up at gunpoint; large amt of cell phones taken #scanner
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 15, 2014

A memorial for murdered Mia Henderson will be held today at 1 in Charles Village.

Thirty-five years for 26-year-old Davon Martin, allegedly part of the "Little Spelman" gang that ran a "crack shop" in "Cherry Hill," 151 months for cocaine dealer Travis Gaines

Baltimoreans rallied to protest the horrifying paramilitary occupation* of Ferguson, MO, and David Simon wrote an "open letter" to the Ferguson Police Department, and at Stoop Storytelling ol' FHBIII talked about busting up Occuppy. Anonymous had its Twitter account suspended after releasing the wrong officer name and photo. Whoops!

One Tyree Threatt was arrested for a robbery that happened while he was in jail.* Whoops!

Jessica Maranto and Brandon Johnson

Horrible parents left a malnourished six-year-old in a room at the Welcome Inn in Loch Raven.

A settlement conference has been scheduled for property flipper Scott Wizig, a flipper so insidious his name has become a verb and talking to him makes reporters yearn for a bleach bath. (“We didn’t feel truly clean until we scrubbed off the first two layers of skin.”)

The commander of the homicide unit has been replaced* by the former homicide commander.

The new chair of the liquor board, Tom Ward, is reportedly one can-do muthafucka.

The governor of Maine called bullshit on Ray Rice's suspension.

Butt Chugging in Knoxville

Maryland's ban on assault weapons was upheld by a federal judge. Here's the full ruling via Ian Duncan. Said the plaintiffs, argle bargle, argle bargle.

A man was found dead in a car in Clifton Park* and a man was shot on N. Pulaski St on the West side.

Homicide: 2801 St. Lo Dr. 8/11 @ 5:20pm Officers responded to call for a person not breathing. Homicide Detectives are investigating.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 12, 2014

An accident with a police cruiser at Frankfort and Plainfield injured six.

Carjacking/shooting victim Guy Jackson is suing the police after they seized him from shock trauma, questioned him and then released him on the street in a hospital gown with a bullet hole in his face.

Two separate federal cases have been thrown out due to the BPD's "credibility issues."

Homicide arrest: 57-year old William Thornsberry arrested for the Aug 9th fatal stabbing - 1500 Marshall Street. pic.twitter.com/eP1cZfAeyz
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 11, 2014

φκα

So the Federal Dept of Ed has opened an inquiry into the whole JHU gang-rape-at-Pi-Kappa-Alpha (aka Pike) situation. Pike's previous claims to fame include shooting a pledge with a pellet gun in Berkeley, killing a pledge in Illinois, getting banned from UVA for making pledges bite an onion and "butt chugging" in Knoxville.

Morgan Arnold, who's somewhere on the spectrum and was 14 when she allegedly conspired with her boyfriend to murder her dad, will be tried as an adult.* Three weeks before the killing she wrote in her journal, "Today, all I could hear was the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing. It's insane and it's sick that I like those sounds." Or it means you'd make a great charcutier.

Ethan Estevez

In HarfCo terrifying-looking teacher Ethan Estevez is accused of plotting with a student to kill his wife so he could keep boning her.* Texted the student, "Like it has to look like an accident because of life insurance and stuff."

Since we've been gone...
Two three-year-olds were shot in two weeks, McKenzie Elliott and Knijah Bibb. Person-of-interest  Tyrone Jamison, 21, turned himself in on a probation violation (but hasn't been officially charged, it seems), one Davon Wallace, 25, was arrested for Bibb's.

Tyree Woodson, nabbed on a warrant, shot himself inside the Southwest district police station.

Some teenagers hijacked a school bus for fun

And Michael Vick advised Ray Rice to "try to make amends for what you've done."

Officer Asshole

The NIMBYs of Harwood are upset about a proposed addiction-treatment center.*  The neighborhood of Harwood's best-known citizen is/was Edna McAbier, who went into hiding after being firebombed in 2005 by the Bloods for reporting drug dealing. In other drugs news, after Reddit regurgitated that 2006 USA Today piece claiming that 60,000 Baltimoreans are addicts Ian Duncan settled the score yet again-- it's only like 11,000- 20,000 addicts you guyze (depending on how you define it). 

We're up to 104 murders.

Local scribe D. Watkins has a new piece in Salon reviewing The Fault in Our Stars. JK! The piece is "Gunplay is All I Know" and is why he'd "rather be caught with a gun than without one." (Best lines: "[Free] was a 40-something-year-old dude who loved ladies, and greasy chicken cheese steaks with extra provolone from Mama Mia’s." and "within a few years, Officer Friendly turned into Officer Asshole.")

Jimmy Smith

Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith was arrested * for interfering with Emergency Services at the Greene Turtle in Towson and beamed in his mug shot. The Sun reports this is the 5th arrest of a Raven this offseason.

Want to watch a @BaltimorePolice sarge Jarron Jackson get Tased® for training purposes?

Want to watch the video Fealicia "Snoop" Pearson took while hanging out with 12'O Clock boy Pug?

Still not at peace with the recent election?
Luke Broadwater dug into the Bernstein/Mosby numbers and found that the vote was less along racial lines this election than last time.* In other words, while white ppl and black ppl showed out for Bernstein last election the white people in particular didn't really show for him his time, and Bernstein actually picked up some support in some black neighborhoods.
There's some comfort in the numbers for Mizeur supporters, she did quite well in the city. 
From Cham and Broadwaters' #'s: 69716 total votes, Brown got 36742(53%), Mizeur got 20062(29%) and Gansler got 11431(16%). Ms. Mizeur pretty much took the 1st, 6th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 23rd and 27th Wards.

Mosby Defeats Bernstein!

Anthony Brown, the man who misplaced $90 million, secured the gubernatorial nomination, and Heather Mizeur walked down a long hall. The sitting judges kept their seats, for now. Brian Frosh beat Mr. Boat Proposal. And in an upset that few-- least of all the incumbent-- saw coming, Marilyn Mosby beat State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein, with 1/4th of the cash and zero management experience. What the heck happened? As the Brew opines, Mosby's path was actually pretty similar to Bernstein's: take on an over-confident incumbent, seize on the outrageous stories that pique interest, rack up endorsements, sympathize with victims eye-to-eye. I wonder if Jayne Miller's girlfriend will get her job back now?

Speaking of criminals, the two who were running-- Don "Delegate Drinky Dranky" and Julius Henson, both lost.

Two were arrested for the shooting on Monastery (I think they mean 6/22)-

1/2: Shooting arrest. 31 year-old Hasan Howard arrested & charged for the 5/22 shooting -unit block N. Monastery Ave. pic.twitter.com/hxUOxdvOBw
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) June 24, 2014

2/2: Shooting arrest. 22 year-old Gerald Oglesby arrested & charged for the 5/22 shooting-unit block N. Monastery Ave pic.twitter.com/VXz4qLzhW6
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) June 24, 2014

Ashani John Salmon

A very short man named Ashani John Salmon is sought in connection with the shooting at Peju's Kitchen and Lounge in Gwynn Oak, call police if you see him.

Police are looking for whomever assaulted Kyndyl Fauntleroy as he left the Arabian Nights Hookah Lounge on Light Street this past Sunday.

Nicholas Ishmael

A police cadet, one Nicholas Ishmael, aged 20, has been charged with stealing hillbilly heroin from the county evidence vault. And stealing cash. Two of his cousins also face drug charges. Tsk!

Depressing: 62 percent of SWAT raids are ISO drugs, and 36 percent of raids recover no contraband of any kind.

Well, that's nice, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that police can't search the cellphones of people they arrest without a warrant.

Big pimpin leads to big arrestin. Five alleged pimps were arrested yesterday, one in Baltimore county and four in PGC. Oh, and they were pimping children.

One Derrick James Jackson was arrested in the county for brandishing a gun* during a road rage incident on 695. So, wonder what happened to the New Jersey cop road-rager Detective Joseph Walker? Haven't heard anything about that case since February.